A Fruitvale Park Becomes a Six-Acre Ohlone Exhibition Today, With a 12-Foot Sculpture by Walter Hood

Oakland's Peralta Hacienda Historical Park in the Fruitvale is opening a new permanent exhibition today, two days before Indigenous Peoples' Day, and it covers the whole six-acre park rather than one gallery. Called "Indigenous Voices," it focuses on the history, presence and resurgence of the Ohlone people of the East Bay.

What's in the exhibition

According to the park, the project took three years and was shaped by Ohlone artists, historians and community members working alongside designers. Its central piece is SII, a 12-foot sculpture along Peralta Creek that renders the Chochenyo word for water. It was designed by MacArthur Fellow Walter Hood of Hood Design Studio in consultation with Ohlone leaders, Oakland North reported.

Nearby, "Wondrous Weaves" is a 100-foot mural bench painted by East Side Arts Alliance artists and Rumsen Ohlone artist Linda Yamane. It reproduces weavings, embroidery and baskets that Fruitvale families brought from their own cultures, including Mayan Mam, Laotian Mien, Kente cloth, Mexica, Pacific Islander and Khmer traditions.

Yamane's illustrations and basketry, woven from willow, sedge and bracken fern grown in the park's Ohlone Basketry Garden, appear throughout. She also wrote and illustrated the outdoor "Kaknú Story Path," panels that tell the story of a mythical peregrine falcon. Inside the Peralta House Museum there is a new permanent gallery on Ohlone history and contemporary life, along with Ohlone games for all ages, and new panels introduce present-day community members including Corrina Gould and Deja Gould.

Today's grand opening

The free celebration runs from noon to 3 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 10, at 2465 34th Ave. Curator Holly Alonso is leading exhibition tours, and the afternoon includes the premiere of "Who Did the Work?," a short film by Rick Tejada Flores about the Native people forced to build and maintain the rancho. Families can weave corn husk dolls, try lassoing, make leather pouches and learn Ohlone songs.

After the opening, the outdoor exhibition stays open from sunrise to sunset, and the house museum is open noon to 4 p.m. on weekdays.

More on Monday

If you miss today, the Lawrence Hall of Science in Berkeley is holding an Indigenous Peoples' Day celebration with the 'ottoy Initiative on Monday, Oct. 12, from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Leaders Vincent Medina and Louis Trevino will share Ohlone astronomy in the planetarium at 1:30 p.m. and lead a walking tour at 2 p.m. Visitors can also learn to count in Chochenyo with the stick dice game țallik and taste traditional Ohlone teas. Unlike the Fruitvale event, the Lawrence charges regular admission, listed at $27 for ages 3 and up.